The present invention relates to a food holder and lifter with adjustable handles. More particularly, the present invention relates to a food holder and lifter with adjustable handles wherein the food may be held together during cooking in a cooking vessel and lifted out of the vessel without the use of utensils, keeping the cooked food items intact.
Various items of food from various meats including poultry and fish to vegetables are cooked in pots and pans. These items need to be placed into the pot or pan for cooking and then removed from the pot or pan at the end of the cooking process. It is desirable, for aesthetic purposes, to keep the cooked food intact. However, once the food is cooked, it is often soft and/or falling apart. The use of utensils such as forks, large forks, tongs, spatulas or the like used to extract the hot food from the hot pot or pan exasperates the problems of breaking the food item apart.
An advantage of the present invention is that various food items from various meats including poultry and fish to various vegetables and everything in between may be placed on the food holder and lifted into the pan.
Another, and even greater, advantage is that the food is held together on the holder and may be lifted out of the hot pot or pan upon the completion of the cooking process by grasping the handles and lifting the cooked food item out of the hot pot or pan intact, that is, without it breaking or falling apart.
Another advantage of the present invention is that the length of the handles may be easily and readily adjusted.
Briefly and basically, in accordance with the present invention, an apparatus is provided for holding and lifting items of food for use in connection with cooking which includes a network comprised of interconnected flexible heat resistant plastic members and handles formed on two opposite sides of said network. Each of said handles comprises a plurality of members comprised of flexible heat resistant plastic connected to the network wherein one or more of the handle members may be removed to adjust the length of the handle. In a presently preferred embodiment, the network is comprised of a plurality of concentric rings of flexible heat resistant plastic material interconnected by radially extending members comprised of flexible heat resistant plastic material. Further, in a presently preferred embodiment, the handles may be formed by the extension of two radial members beyond the outermost concentric member, with the extensions of the radial members being connected by a plurality of looping flexible heat resistant plastic members forming a gripping portion of the handle.
In a presently preferred embodiment, the length of the handles may be adjusted by cutting the radial extensions at a desired point between two looping flexible heat resistant plastic members which form the gripping portion of the handle.